I don't see another repack in there. The NAB does believe the schedule of the current repack is unrealistic. That's not really news. (IMHO the NAB is right)

The previous FCC wouldn't have listened -- they'd have gone ahead with the current schedule.

The new chair hasn't made much noise about it but I haven't heard anything that would cause me to suspect a change in policy.

03-22-2017, 06:03 AM

Trip

Even Chairman Pai cannot change the timeline Congress gave the FCC to work with. And do you really think he's going to disadvantage the wireless guys who just paid ~$20 billion for the spectrum by lengthening the schedule up-front? Would that not be changing the value of the spectrum underneath them?

- Trip

03-23-2017, 01:31 PM

Rrrrzzzz419

Slightly off topic, but after the current repack gets finished will OTA TV be between channels 2 and 36 or will it be in a smaller or larger range(I know the current range is 2-51 with the exception of 37 which is used for radio astronomy)? Also, do you think the FCC will have(or already has) any competing applications to deal with?

03-23-2017, 03:16 PM

Robert Grant

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rrrrzzzz419

Slightly off topic, but after the current repack gets finished will OTA TV be between channels 2 and 36 or will it be in a smaller or larger range(I know the current range is 2-51 with the exception of 37 which is used for radio astronomy)? Also, do you think the FCC will have(or already has) any competing applications to deal with?

2 through 36 it will be.

There will be more VHF-high stations than before, but not that many, since these channels have been well occupied already, even in rural areas, where some broadcasters even favored them, to go through trees, over small hills, to the outdoor antennas rural viewers have actually been using. It also saves money on transmitter power, important, since the market is smaller.

There will be more VHF-low stations than before, though, again, not that many. Switching to low-V may be appealing to an independent or religious station, the kind that viewers will not install an antenna to watch, and selling down to low-V keeps the station on cable and satellite, while the owners of the station may pocket some cash.

What will be more difficult is UHF DTV DX by tropo - most DXers won't have any "holes" to point their antennas at for long DX.

03-23-2017, 03:20 PM

amfmtvdtvbrla

Hi Rrrrzzzz419, after the repack all DTV channels will only be able to broadcast on channels 2 thru 36. channels 38 thru 51 will be for wireless companies to use for new wireless technologies. Don't think channel 37 will be used because of it being used for Radio Astronomy.

03-23-2017, 03:32 PM

amfmtvdtvbrla

Robert Grant, you said most DXers won't have any "holes" to point their antennas at for long DX, did you mean there wont be any open channels to DX on?
with the transmitter power coming up on ATSC 3.0 and its more resistance to multipath problems we may be able to watch long distance TV stations with more reliability now. something we have not been able to do since the Analog TV days.

03-23-2017, 04:31 PM

Crazy Monkey

Quote:

Originally Posted by amfmtvdtvbrla

Robert Grant, you said most DXers won't have any "holes" to point their antennas at for long DX, did you mean there wont be any open channels to DX on?
with the transmitter power coming up on ATSC 3.0 and its more resistance to multipath problems we may be able to watch long distance TV stations with more reliability now. something we have not been able to do since the Analog TV days.

ATSC 3.0 may be better for DXing, but what good is it if there's fewer (if any) DXable channels left after the repacking? I live in the Great Lakes region, and I'm surrounded by several other markets that are around 100 miles away. So between my locals and regional tropo, there's not going to be much left for long-haul tropo. It's all going to be plugged up. It's already crowded, and it's only going to get worse. From what has been revealed so far, it doesn't appear that many stations are going off the air. So the stations are all going to be crammed in like sardines.

03-23-2017, 05:12 PM

amfmtvdtvbrla

I agree with you Crazy Monkey. I guess the ones that will benefit the most for a while until their country does the switch to ATSC 3.0 are our DXing friends across the border in Mexico. They will be far enough away from these ATSC 3.0 stations to be able to DX them except for around Reynosa MX that location will be to close. I think Monterrey Mexico & Mexico out across the southern Gulf where Gargadon is located all the way including the Yucatan will be prime DX locations when ATSC 3.0 switches on. ATSC 3.0 USB & HDMI Dongles should be available for DXers in Mexico to buy at Amazon or Ebay I would think.

03-23-2017, 07:22 PM

w9wi

We'll know the details in about a week when the Commission releases the official results.

I don't see a power increase happening with ATSC 3.0. What I read in the FCC NPRM was ATSC 3 operations would be authorized at existing ATSC 1 power levels, on the assumption the interference potential of 3 is the same as that of 1.